THE Liberal Democrats have been criticised for the party’s role in introducing austerity policies during a heated debate on poverty in Bradford Council chambers.

A call by the leader of the Bradford party for the Council to do more to tackle poverty in the district led to one of the most fiery debates seen in a Council meeting this year.

At a meeting of the full Council on Tuesday evening, Councillor Jeanette Sunderland (Lib Dem) put forward a motion calling for the Council to acknowledge the recent findings by Professor Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights on the poverty levels in the UK.

Prof Alston’s report on poverty in Britain claimed austerity had inflicted misery to many of the country’s poorest citizens, that Universal Credit needed to be re-thought and that the issue of poverty in the country was worse than the government had claimed.

Cllr Sunderland called for the Council to review how much Council Tax it collects from the poorest families in Bradford as a possible way of alleviating poverty in the district.

She said: “We can’t stop the rollout of Universal Credit, but we can look at the amount of Council Tax paid for by the poorest families, and what impact it has on poverty.”

She said Council policies could drive families further into poverty, and, addressing Labour Councillors, added: “I don’t think you want to harm people, I don’t think you go home at night thinking ‘how can we punish people, but your policies can have unintended consequences.”

Councillor Mike Pollard (Cons, Bingley) put forward an amendment to the motion suggesting that “with a due sense of bemusement” the Council ignore Prof Alston’s “questionable findings, drawn from a small collection of anecdotes.”

He also suggested the Council write to Prof Alston “reminding him of record average household incomes and falling income inequality.”

He questions the definition of poverty, saying it was subjective.

Councillor Cath Bacon (Lab, Keighley West) is the Council’s Poverty champion. She said: “The Conservatives are blaming people for their own fate – people they think of as the deserving poor.”

Arguing against Cllr Pollard’s claims that people were now better off, she said: “You can argue that austerity was necessary, but don’t try to tell us we’re all better off for it. That is an insult.”

She then turned her attention to Cllr Sunderland’s Liberal Democrat party, adding: “The Liberal Democrats went into government. You were at the top of the table when the decisions to implement austerity were taken. All this was set into motion by the coalition government. When future historians look back at this decade, they will recoil in horror at the decisions made.”

Former Bradford Council Leader David Green (Lab, Wibsey) also had harsh words for Cllr Sunderland. He said: “The Lib Dems went into coalition with the Conservatives in exchange for a referendum on proportional representation, which was the only thing you ever got from that deal.

“You went along with a policy of austerity that harmed local council’s ability to deliver the services people deserve. This has led to Council funding being cut by 50 per cent between 2010 and 2020.

“Now you are asking for a review? Everyone in this room knows people in this district are harmed by extreme poverty. You want us to do a review, then what? What are you going to say after that review? How are we going to find the money? You need to admit the mistakes your party made in supporting this austerity.”

Council Leader Susan Hinchcliffe said: “We know there are people in this district in poverty, I don’t need a report to tell me that. But we believe in actions, not words.”

Cllr Sunderland said: “I knew this would descend into blaming, but sometimes the truth needs to be said.”

The Council voted for a Labour amendment to the motion, calling for the government to end “damaging austerity cuts” and pause the roll out of Universal credit.